This is the last we have heard from Troy, but we will update you tomorrow on the rest of his day.

This is the first time that one could hear fatigue from Troy. He says it was so hot and humid last night that he decided to see if the new FEMA housing that just opened last night was more comfortable. It was air conditioned, but the move itself disrupted sleep. He figures at best he got 3 hours of sleep compared to the 4 to 4½ hours he had been previously getting.

It is good to be flexible when doing relief work in the largest US disaster in history. Although Troy thought his Saturday was set, a few things changed. The gal from LA SPCA had truck issues and was going to be late, so Troy went in to New Orleans with a woman from Pasadena, TX. She was also showing signs of fatigue on her last day in Louisiana. Troy asked what the plan for the day was, and she replied "you can be the boss, because I’m tired of it."

Troy and his rescue partner looked at the hand-sketched map they were issued and found the area to work within. Every angle Troy looked he saw a scene of total decimation. He said the area must be uninhabitable. The roads had been cleared, but destruction surrounded them.

Trees toppled, power lines and poles down, cars askew like Matchbox cars, and houses shifted from their foundation blocks. They wondered if the houses were even sitting in the right street address. It was difficult to navigate roads that had no names…. street signs were non-existent. When it came to recording house numbers an educated guess was the best they could do.

As they drove down the road they saw stray dogs, stopped the truck, and tried to be their friend. The response was a momentary stop, then tail tucked and a sprint the other way. Troy said even a small dog he could not befriend nor keep pace with. All the normal tricks of the trade of playing into canine behavior failed in these distressed, confused, possibly injured and starving dogs.

The dogs they saw running through the streets were primarily Pit bulls or Pit-bull mixes. Troy estimates they attempted to rescue eight or more dogs cruising through the streets.

Troy found the National Guard personnel very helpful in directing them to homes that they thought had pets or to locate a home they were searching for.

The first home Troy arrived at they found a Pit-bull that had decided after three weeks alone in the home it was ‘his’ to protect. Every surface of the home was covered in at least 3 inches of black sludge. He could not see any distinct water line, but thick mold was growing on the walls and seemed to be reaching for the front door.

As Troy followed the brown and white Pit-bull he had to maneuver around and over toppled furniture and home accessories. The Pit bull decided to hunker down behind a toppled refrigerator. After unrelenting growls and snarls Troy decided he had to use a control stick for safety and ability to catch the dog. Troy feels the control stick antagonizes dogs, so after they got outside and he could see the dog calming, he switched to a regular leash which quite simply put the dog at ease. They loaded him into the rescue truck with no problem. As with most dogs he has encountered in the shelter, this Pit bull was unneutered.

They arrived at a home where there was supposed to be two labs and a Dachshund. As they began their search, Troy heard a dog barking from outback. He followed the sound, and found a Chow that was happy to see a friendly face. To reach the Chow Troy had to rip the fence down that separated them. After some affection, water, food and quick health check, they loaded the dog up into the truck.

Troy and his partner continued the search for the two labs and Doxie. The Doxie turned-out to be sweetest Beagle Troy has ever met. This little tri spayed female got affectionately named ‘Daisy’ by Troy. After some more searching they found one lab, an intact male. The other lab had taken safety beneath the house. After at least 15 minutes of coaxing did not lure the lab from beneath the house, they left food and water. Troy felt okay leaving this dog, for the National Guard told them that homeowners would be able to return to see their homes next week. He would be fine until then.

As they drove down a street, a man who appeared to be dazed and in a state of shock flagged them to stop. He asked for food and water for his Italian Greyhound, named Nemo. He had just discovered Nemo alive after three weeks alone in the demolished home. This man’s friend worked for the local Sheriff’s office. The officer supposedly stopped at his home earlier to check on the dog, he was told that "Nemo was dead." Nemo was far from dead and in surprisingly good condition. The man evacuated his home and left his dog with lots of food and water. When he got into his home today, there was no potable water to be found. He does not understand how his dog survived and he could not believe his beloved dog was in his loving arms alive.

Their final rescue of the day brightened their spirits as they were greeted by the typical tail wagging antics of a yellow lab. This intact male had a microchip, but Troy does not know what the shelter intake volunteers found when they called the microchip company.

Once Troy and his rescue partner had dogs, they would drive them back to a designated location where the air conditioned transport trailer waited until full. The trailer’s air conditioning was showing signs of fatigue and a couple of the other team members who delivered their dogs to the same transport trailer had to return early. The trailer was a few dogs shy of the 50 they were allowed to bring back to the shelter.

As they drove through the streets, if they saw a home with F/W spray painted on the side, they would stop and leave food and water. The marking means that someone previously saw pet their but could not catch them so they left food and water.

Some homes would be spray painted with ‘1 dog PU’ which means they picked-up one dog from that home.

They could not let the dogs suffer in the heat, so they all drove back to the Lamar-Dixon shelter a little bit earlier than they wanted to.

As I am talking to Troy as he walks from his tent to the food area, I hear him say "ahh… life is good again." Troy had found one cold Diet Coke in the ice cooler. I could near him rummage through the ice, but he did not find any more Diet Coke.

I asked Troy if he got photos of his trip into New Orleans and he headed back to the tent to refresh his fatigued memory. He had photos of most of the dogs but saw an omission…. There was no photo of his new Beagle friend, ‘Daisy.’

As Troy views the rest of his photos, he asks if I ‘can hear that….’ I listen and it sounds like a down-pouring of rain. I was correct. Next I hear him say "it’s raining hard" as he walks back to the receiving or intake barn to see if he can find Daisy. He would like to get a photo of his New Orleans canine friend.

After that Troy will check on the dogs in the barn and see how many there are and who is still there. In a tired voice Troy says he needs to get some rest so he can be fresh for the opportunity to rescue more animals from the destroyed homes and streets of New Orleans. A quiet laugh comes from both ends of the phone. We both know well that he will see those sorrowful eyes peering through the kennels and Troy will be compelled to let them out for some fresh air and a walk.

This Sunday morning Troy headed out into the field with a new partner named Brian from Arizona. They were sent out primarily to provide food and water, but were also authorized to bring back animals they could recover.

Their primary mission was to look for "any signs of life." Troy and Brian wore LA (Louisiana) ASPCA logo shirts which gave them authorization to break into any home if they detected signs of life. The National Guard cannot break into a home. The area has just opened-up, so the search for people has not even fully taken place.

As they drive into New Orleans, Troy notices a marked increase in the number of security checkpoints. He’s heading into an area that has just opened up due to the receding waters. The streets he and his partner primarily search are off of Claiborne Avenue and St. Claude Avenue. He is told around 10 blocks away is where the levy broke.

Troy thought that yesterday’s destruction was bad, but this is indescribable. He says that houses are caved in and pushed into the streets. There is so much debris piled up to ten feet high that vehicle passage is impossible, and in certain areas impassable on foot.

The roads still have lots of standing water and Troy described it as thick, disgusting, stinky and riddled with debris. Troy is told that vehicles, even the military Hummers cannot pass through without getting stuck.

They had National Guard escorts with them the entire time. Troy wondered what the odds were that his National Guard escorts would be from Oregon! At 11:30 at night in Louisiana, Troy remembers only two of the three names, Ted and Cindy. He said they were very helpful and wonderful to work with. They were very supportive and compassionate towards the animal rescue efforts. At this time, the National Guard representatives tell Troy that only nine Oregon National Guard personnel remain in the area.

The first few houses they hear chirping, and they debate if it is bird or a squeaky wheel of a hamster. After tracking the noise to a home, Troy finds an open window to fit through. Once inside he realizes it is a smoke detector.

They come across some Time magazine representatives and they tag along for the early part of the day. Troy says that after a slow start, they finally left.

Initially they would search homes when they saw paw prints or "Beware of Dog" signs posted. They found nothing.

One of the National Guardsmen says he hears a bird that sounds like his friends cockatiel. They track it down to a tree, and follow it for awhile as it flies away every time they get close to it.

While following the cockatiel, they find two dogs beneath a huge twisted shed. It is nearly the size of a garage. As they approach, one takes off immediately. The other one decides to take a stance and plays keep away while growling and snarling the entire time. Troy crawls on his belly through the one foot clearance with a ‘come-a-long’ or ‘control’ stick. He eventually gets the come-a-long on part of the dog’s body and despite the strong paw hold the dog had, he and his partner finally get this vicious sounding dog out. They hold the Chow x Lab mix at a safe distance until they can get him into a crate.

They look around and see that they are far from their truck, but it cannot get any closer. They maneuver the dog in the crate through all the piles of debris, over trees and around several houses. On the way to the truck while he is carrying the crate, one of his entire legs falls into a deep hole. Fortunately it was only wide enough for one leg to fall into. After they upright the dog after the surprise jolt, they all decide it must have been a septic hole or something. Troy reminds me that everything is covered in a thick black sticky coating and the hole was hidden.

When they arrive at the truck, Troy finds out that it was a neutered male and probably a well adjusted, lovable dog three weeks ago. As they sit by the truck and catch their breath, Troy discovers that he is hot from the hazardous material suit, made of unbreathable Tyvek. He says "if you threw a bucket of water on me it would not make me any wetter."

The dog neutered male chow x Lab mix is named ‘Two-Eyed Jack" after one of the National Guards own dog named "One-Eyed Jack." They transport Two-Eyed Jack to the holding station vehicle and once there they get a leash on him and he is fine. Troy is confident that this dog will come around to trusting people once again.

They continue driving down the street and get blocked by downed poles and standing black water. They do not even attempt to walk through the dark tar-like water because it builds up on the shoes and does not come-off. He initially started out in the rubber boots he bought at 8:00 pm the night before leaving for Louisiana. I laugh, because in an earlier conversation he says that the store (which did not want to let him in 10 minutes prior to closing) sold him two left boots! Troy goes on to say that he switched to the comfortable and practical waterproof hiking boots he bought at Pine Mt Sports. The rubber boots were giving him blisters (which one would expect with two left boots!) because the boots got glued into the sticky black sludge that covered everything.

At the end of the road, Troy sees a little black dog run away about a block away. The little black dog runs behind a house and Troy goes one way and his partner goes another. They thought it got away, but Troy hears some rustling in the debris and climbs over trees, piles of boards and a refrigerator to find the little Dachshund x Sptiz mix. The little black dog sat with alert eye, the kind of eyes that say his adrenaline is running high and he is ready to bolt. After some moments of trying to build trust, Troy successfully gets a leash around the little black dog with a white spot on his chest. They name her Sugar. Sugar, like the other dogs, is in amazingly good shape.

Troy continues to ponder what these domesticated dogs have done to survive for three weeks without food and water. Humans cannot tolerate being without the comforts of modern life in just a few days, yet these dogs have reverted back to surviving in an instinctive way. He says that some of them are actually overweight! He assumes that like the dogs in our shelter, they were a bit chubby to begin with, but still, it defies the total destruction he sees around him.

Troy stays at the truck with Cindy of the National Guard. They see trust in humans slowly build in ‘sugars’ eyes and posture. Troy says that she acted as if she wanted to be rescued, but not quite sure these are the people she should trust to save her. With time Sugar came around and began to drink and eat as the other team member unsuccessfully tried to catch another dog. Troy said he kept looking at Sugar and wondered how an obviously previous house dog could survive these horrific conditions.

As the day wore on and the heat and humidity pounded down upon them, they realized that house searches were not as successful as driving down street and peering beneath cars, houses and other hiding places. Some of the dogs were beginning to roam in packs.

At the transport vehicle they talk with other teams and find that they have spoken with Fire and Rescue personnel searching for humans. They directed them to homes where animals have been seen. Troy and Brian did not have this luxury because they have not gone through the area they were in yet. There were almost no markings on the homes in their area.

Troy says that in this area the water line appears to be about 8-10 feet high, and another team rescued two dogs from and attic. Clearly the first floor of a home would be flooded.

Cruising the streets they spotted a Pit bull beneath a vehicle. They had to stop at a distance from the dog due to the thick standing water and debris. The dog shied away from them and they lost her through the houses.

They continued to drive and spotted the Pit bull again. It appeared it did not want to be caught, but they tried anyway. The Pit bull stopped bolting away and finally decided to take safety atop a seven foot high pile of debris. The dog and Troy climbed atop boards riddle with nails, roofing material and household items.

Equipped with a catch-pole and a leash, Troy decided he had one chance to catch the dog once his partner was standing on the opposite side. Troy tried to loop the leash around the dog, just missed the Pit bull, but it ran into the come-a-long/control stick of his partner. Once they got to the road, the dog started to wag its tail. As soon as they saw the tail wag, they replaced the control stick with a leash, and the dog’s body wagged with warmth and delight.

The dog got named ‘GI Jane" for the ‘last one out’ by Cindy with the Oregon National Guard because their truck was getting full and they were about to head back.

Troy says that he wishes he knew the dog’s survival strategy. It appears that the dogs on the properties belong there. So, do they leave as the water covers the land and return as the water recedes? He goes on to say that we will probably never truly know.

As they head-out of the area, they see a lot more dogs running through the streets. They see two German Shepherd mixes walking down the street. Troy catches one and another team that was trying to catch them caught the other Shepherd mix. Troy hands over the Shepherd mix to them since their truck is at capacity and it is hot.

As they head back to their truck one of the National Guardsman stumbles on a board and while he is at ground level sees a dog underneath a car. Troy investigates and it is actually two dogs. One bolted away and they rescued the yellow lab.

Like yesterday, Troy saw only one cat, but both times they could not retrieve them. He is not sure where all of the hundreds of cats at the shelter came from or how they got caught. If dogs can revert to being semi-feral within a few weeks for survival, he imagines that cats do the same.

Troy says it is interesting to see that dogs seem to recognize leashes as a symbol of comfort and human companionship to these once cherished dogs. With every rescue Troy tried to use the gentlest means of rescue. Tools available for handling animals are useful in providing safety for humans as well as the animals. Without this equipment, many of these animals would have to continue fending for themselves.

As the conversation comes to an end, Troy let’s out an ‘aww… it’s cooler tonight and there is a little breeze." The first breeze he has felt all week. He’s glad that Summer and Denise will work in slightly cooler temperatures.

Troy walks over to the FEMA air conditioned tent. He said the first night hardly anyone slept in there. The second night he did as well as a few more other people. As he walks and talks on the phone, he says there are probably over 150 cots in the tent. He thinks his 11:30 arrival may be too late and that there are no more cots. A sigh of relief, he found one. He places his sleeping bag on top to reserve it. Troy says he’s looking forward to hopefully the best night of sleep yet. They have turned the lights out tonight.

Troy walks out of the FEMA tent and I ask if he found Daisy, the Beagle last night. He said no. If plans on looking for Sugar, the little black dog he rescued today, in the morning. Troy says ‘he really wants to know what happened to her." She definitely touched his heart.

Troy said he spoke with Mary who continued working in the dog barn. She said that the couple who reunited with their dog Dixie, the yellow lab, did come back looking for their other dog. They brought a photo and Mary placed it in memory. Today she thought a dog looking like their dog just arrived. She desperately tried to find a contact number for Dixie’s family, but as of yet could not find it in thousands of pieces of papers.

Troy says he will catch a ride to the airport with Mary in the morning. Troy is going to attempt to catch a stand-by flight so he does not have to spend a night in Portland on Monday.

Some of Troy’s parting thoughts are humorous and some simply the reality of the largest disaster in US history. He says that while working in the dog barn, someone would introduce him to a new volunteer. Troy glances at the tennis-type outfit, perfect make-up and coiffed hair. The new volunteer is anxious to help and says as Troy hands her a dog to take for a walk, "I’ve only had Yorkies and that’s all I’m really able to handle."

Another comment from a dog walker was, "the dog went to the bathroom, who picks that up? Troy simply responded, "you do." Now we know why Troy felt compelled to give these deserving dogs that miss their family a walk at 10:00 pm.

Troy goes on to say that although the women wearing high heels probably quickly realized they needed more practical shoes, he knows that every volunteer contributed to increasing the quality of care they received in the Lamar-Dixon animal shelter. Regardless of the foot wear, they were all "ready to walk the dogs or help in any way they can."

Some of Troy’s late night parting thoughts includes how glad he is "that he was able to help as an early responder to this catastrophe that effected unimaginable numbers of human and animals lives." He goes on to say that he enjoyed every activity he was involved in "from helping the animals in the shelter or rescuing frightened dogs on the disheveled streets of New Orleans." He will take away the memories of the faces and experiences he had with all of the amazing volunteers and HSUS staff he worked with. Troy says that "every single one of them is absolutely amazing." Then there are the thousands of faces he has seen, and how will not soon forget them.

When asked if he missed Central Oregon, Troy simply says "yes." He "misses the health of the animals we have and the fact that Central Oregon understands the importance of spaying and neutering." He says he will forever remember the images of the unending number of unaltered males he saw and walked in the dog barn.

This experience has reminded him of the generosity of the community. Troy cannot believe the outpouring of support the animal victims of Katrina have received from the Central Oregon community. Troy wants to say "thank you from the bottom of (his) heart for the compassion for the animals that were left behind."

As he gets settled for some rest after a long week, Troy says it’s amazing how it seems the items he used the most often and were the most valuable in the shelter and in New Orleans were obtained from Dan McGarigle, owner of Pine Mt. Sports. The torch will be passed as most of the camping equipment will be left for Summer and Denise to use for the next week volunteering there valuable time and skills at the Lamar-Dixon shelter. Again, he remembers the sincere generosity and compassion expressed by Dan when he delivered the gear to the shelter.

Troy spends Monday night near the Portland airport because there are no more flights to Redmond. He says he arrived at the hotel and they gave him a room key. When he opened the door, there was already someone in the room.

Once he got settled into an empty room, one of the first things he does is turn the television on and plug in the new laptop computer. He has no problem getting on the internet and emailing photos to Bend. The problems hooking-up in Gonzales, LA must have been geographically related. He says he even went into a Starbucks in Gonzales and they said he would have to go to Baton Rouge to find a cafe with internet access.

The few photos he sends are amazing. Troy’s rescue work in New Orleans on Sunday shows them working around a house resting on top of a car. The photo depicts the immense power of Hurricane Katrina.

The next photo warms the heart as a rescued Chow puppy with a broken leg looks out of his kennel at the Lamar-Dixon animal shelter. The puppy must be glad to be out of storm and now in the safe hands of compassionate volunteers.

While in New Orleans on Sunday Troy and his partner were escorted by three Oregon National Guard personnel. They enjoyed naming the dogs Troy rescued during the day. In the field Troy uses the leashes Ruff Wear donated to help in the rescue efforts.

Troy says he took around 150 photos. It will take some time to filter through the photos and get them on our web page. Keep checking back to see more photos like the ones above. He said it was difficult to document the week because he was constantly busy and there was not a practical way to carry around a camera. He did not want to lose the camera like he did his cell phone.

Troy left the tent from Pine Mt Sports for Summer and Denise to use. When Troy said his tent got moved on to gravel, I don’t think anyone imagined the huge chunks of ‘gravel’ !

At the Redmond airport Troy received an ‘animal hero’ greeting from Maty as well as one that showed he is her best friend in the world. Okay, for those who know Troy and Maty, she was probably thinking "when do we get to play Frisbee?"

Updates from Summer and Denise should be arriving soon.

On Monday evening volunteers Summer Sears and Denise Tate took the ‘red-eye’ flight from Redmond to Baton Rouge. The two reserved a van so that they could be more useful if needed while helping at the Lamar-Dixon animal shelter where 1,300 animals are housed each day.

These two energetic girls have picked-up right where Troy left-off. Summer and Denise checked-in at the volunteer station and they immediately got sent over to help with administrative work alongside the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). The woman they were to talk to was not in at that time, so instead of taking it easy they headed-out to see how they could help.

Summer and Denise went to the dog barn and jumped in to assist with dog walking and cage cleaning. They did this until the first round of dog care was finished.

The two returned to administration and the woman they were to speak to was there. Summer and Denise had the important task of ensuring that all animals had the proper documents. They went around and checked on all the animals and made notes on those needing more documentation and also doing a quick health check on all those they visited that afternoon.

Most of the cats were being transported out of the shelter. A few cats that they saw seem to be suffering from heat exhaustion. If they had a concern about the health of an animal, they promptly got a veterinarian to check on them. They spent time cooling down cats with ice packs and some received fluids.

Summer found her first ‘special kitty.’ Troy says this will be one of many that Summer and Denise find tug at their heart and they will make many visits to check on the status the animals. Summer said it was a white with black kitty whose was as long as its’ body. When they first met, the cat was sprawled out with little movement. After some ‘TLC,’ it began to respond and by nightfall it was getting up and moving about.

After they finalized the documents Summer and Denise put the paperwork back on the appropriate kennels. The two got split-up as they went there separate ways. They both eventually took a lunch break.

Summer returned to the dog barn and assisted with feeding and walking. When Troy first arrived at the shelter there was an average of 6 dogs per stall. The shelter has now stabilized at 2-3 dogs per stall. This is allowing all the dogs to be walked and kennels cleaned twice a day. Troy’s 10:00 pm walks were to get some of the dogs out for a third time that day. He was always concerned about the obviously house trained dogs.

Summer stated words similar to Troy. She was enjoying every aspect of her activities, except for having to do them in the unbearable heat and humidity. Have we told you how miserably hot it is there?!

Summer continued working until 9:00 pm. She decided to take advantage of the air-conditioned FEMA sleeping tent. Summer was exhausted and had a good night’s sleep. She said it was actually cold in the tent.

Denise chose to sleep in the Pine Mt Sports tent that Troy left for them. The two said there was only a handful of tents now, compared to the thirty or more when Troy was there.

Summer said that inside she was dreading the conditions that her eyes and heart might meet in the shelter. She was pleasantly surprised to see that most of the animals were in good condition. Summer said that about 60% of the dogs she walked were happy and comfortable and trusting of people, while another 40% were a bit ‘shut-down’ from all of the stress.

Summer said she is a morning person, but this is more like a ‘before morning person.’ While most of the volunteers and animals were asleep at 3:30 am, Summer is up walking the grounds finding something to do. She heads into the dog barn but all the dogs are quiet and sleeping at this time. Summer did not want to disturb them.

There was activity in the ‘export’ area where animals were being loaded-up to be transported out of the facility. Summer assisted in the process to free-up precious space. For every animal that leaves it means that number can be rescued off the streets today. The truck was leaving the Lamar-Dixon shelter with 80-100 animals.

It is a continual rotation of animals each day. The focus is on documenting the animals and moving them out to other non-profit shelters and rescue groups. The volunteers know that for each animal that gets reclaimed or moved to another shelter, another can be rescued. With each passing day the health of the animals is expected to degrade.

At 6:00 am Summer hears part of Wayne Pacelle of HSUS talk with the volunteers going out into the field to either rescue pets or provide food and water.

Summer breaks to give us a report in Bend. Once she gets off the phone, she will begin the days care for the animals.

In a couple hours Summer calls back….. she has spoken to a couple who stayed at their New Orleans home until a rescue agency would take them and their two cats, Smokey and Bandit. The couple got moved from shelter to shelter, and out of state. This was their first time back to find their beloved young cats. Summer asks if we can check Petfinder.com to help locate their cats. After several different searches, we come-up empty. Summer will tell them how to post a lost pet entry on the Petfinder.com site and others. Everyone hopes that whoever is taking care of the couples cats will know their story and be looking to reunite the cats with their owners. The couple will also back track to the agency that rescued them and find out what shelter they were taking cats to at that time.

UPDATE Day 12

Summer went to the library in Gonzales to find a computer to further look for those two cats. While searching the petfinder.com website, Summer ran into a person who proclaimed themselves to be a ‘petfinder expert.’ This person also had no luck. Summer found out that there is a lot of data that needs to be processed and placed into petfinder.com’s system. Hopefully the cats data will get put into the database and the owners can locate their cats.

Summer spend the rest of the day creating an inventory of all the dogs currently in the barns. This took her about 8-9 hours.

When asked if Summer found her favorite white kitten, she said she went back with the camera to take a photo, and could not find the kitty. She looked in the ICU area, and thought she found it, but it was just one that looked similar.

The living situation has improved for the volunteers with the arrival of a new trailer of showers and bathrooms. The FEMA air-conditioned tent is actually cold at night.

Denise fell in love with a little red and white heeler mix that was labeled a potential biter. The dog would lift its lips and bear its teeth and snarl. Denise eventually got a leash around it to take it out for walk, and found out that this sweet dog was simply greeting people with a smile.

There are now only 2-3 dogs in each stall, so the dogs are getting out more often and the volunteers can keep the kennels clean.

With the expected arrival of Hurricane Rita, the volunteers at the Lamar-Dixon shelter spent the day transporting the dogs out of the shelter.

Summer’s main task for the day was to make sure all dogs had the appropriate documents. She said that she is working with great people in the administration area. Summer said that everyone is doing the best job they can, and all have a great attitude. She is enjoying her once in a lifetime experience and is glad that she could lend a hand to help the animal victims of Katina.

Around 3:00 pm, big, dark clouds covered the expo center. Summer headed back to the tent and found that Denise was also there. They looked at the tent and decided it was time for it to come down. They packed it up and all of the items inside and place them in the van.

Summer and Denise found safety from hurricane Rita in Baton Rouge in the home of Mona, a woman Troy met at the Baton Rouge airport. She and her parents gave Troy a ride to the Lamar-Dixon shelter on Sept 11^th. See "Hurricane Rita Update" at top of page.

Summer reported at 9:00 pm Thursday night (11:00 pm in Louisiana) that everyone at the Lamar-Dixon animal shelter spent the day in a disaster preparedness mode. The volunteers were told that 30-50 mph winds and 2-4" of rain were expected to hit Gonzales in the early afternoon on Friday.

Volunteers spent Thursday getting the animals prepared for transport out of the facility to other organizations in outlying areas. They were expecting to get one more truck load out last night. They are expecting one more ‘export’ of animals via plane Friday. After that they will wait to see what the next step will be.

Summer reported that the animal population is down by half, and the animals have been moved to the interior stalls for protection. They put up a barricade around the barns utilizing the tons of donations of canned pet food.

The donated supplies that were exposed to the elements were loaded up on pallets and moved into the indoor arena. The arena is being used by the National Guard and they are using a part of that space.

The large rescue rigs have been strategically place around the barns to provide further protection from the elements. There are 7-8 semi-trucks ready to be loaded with animals if an evacuation is necessary.

They estimate that they need 30-50 volunteers to stay and help with potential evacuations or to keep the facility running. Summer said it is beginning to "look like a ghost town" compared to yesterday.

The FEMA sleeping tent is supposed to withstand 70 mph winds, but it is expected to be dismantled tomorrow morning. Troy stated that it took nearly three days to set it up! We are not sure what the volunteers would sleep in if they remove the comfort of the FEMA tent.

Summer and Denise are prepared to see what transpires tomorrow and will make their decision based on the information provided and what they feel is best for them. They are equipped with a rental van that will allow them to leave as well as provide temporary shelter if necessary.

We will keep you posted on what is happening in Louisiana due to hurricane Rita. The safety of our volunteers is of the utmost concern, and Summer and Denise know that.

The Friday morning news reports that the 9^th Ward neighborhood in New Orleans is flooding again. The levy that gave away during Katrina is just a few blocks away. This is the neighborhood that Troy rescued animals from on Sunday. He is concerned for the number of animals that he saw in the area. The dogs will more than likely move to drier areas and Troy also said there are massive piles of debris to allow animals to climb to higher ground.

11:00 am 9-23-05- HURRICANE RITA UPDATE:  HSCO is locating the nearest hotel to evacuate Summer and Denise out of Gonzales.  They hope to return to the shelter, but will have to see what happens after the storm passes.  The shelter is continuing to transport the animals out of the shelter at this time.

A limited number of volunteers will stay with the remaining animals. The rest of the volunteers have been requested to evacuate. Oregon Humane Society’s team of six will stay with the animals in barn 5 during the storm.

1:30 pm HURRICANE RITA UPDATE: HSCO and AAA travel could not locate a hotel north of Baton Rouge nor lower Mississippi for Summer and Denise to take safety from the storm.

When Troy arrived at the Baton Rouge airport on Sept 11^th around 11:30 pm he met a woman, Mona, who was waiting for her parents to pick her up. Mona said that she was sure her parents would not mind driving him to the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center. They knew where it was, and Mona had volunteered when the shelter was first set-up and there were only 50 animals.

Mona offered Troy her phone number and said to call if he ever needed anything. He left Louisiana without needing to use that phone number. Today, he looked into his wallet for Mona’s number and called her. Mona is an LSU student, and was not home when Troy called. He left a message asking for "any out of the way city that might have a room available for our volunteers."

Within an hour Mona called back and said that her family was unable to locate accommodations for a relative over a week ago. Mona said that she did not have an extra room, but she could open her home in Baton Rouge to Summer and Denise and they could sleep on the couch and floor. The kindness of Mona and her two teenage sons warmed our hearts.

Summer and Denise called the shelter and were told of the best and only option of staying with Mona, and they said "great." They spoke with Mona while she was away from her home and she would call Summer and Denise as soon as she got home.

The shelter got a call from Mona around 2:45 pm and she wanted to verify the phone number to reach Summer and Denise. A heartfelt thank you from all of us at HSCO went out to Mona. Mona said that she was "not in a position to give to organizations the money that is needed," but she can open her home to offer a warm safe place to stay.

Mona said that she spoke with her sons and they agreed this was a good thing to do. Orion, her fourteen year old son, is giving-up his room for Summer and Denise to have their own space. The kindness of this family exemplifies the best of the human spirit.

Mona said it was ironic that Troy called, for her mother had just asked if she had heard from Troy. This family has shown heartwarming kindness to total strangers from Bend, Oregon. Thank you for taking our volunteers into your home and keeping them safe from the storm.

For a report from the Oregon Humane Society team that stayed in Barn 5 through Hurricane Rita, go to their website at www.oregonhumane.org.

Hurricane Katrina hit landfall on the Gulf Coast the morning of Monday, August 29, 2005. There was mass destruction from the violent winds throughout southern Mississippi and Louisiana. Then the levies of New Orleans broke, flooding the city. Thus began the massive disaster relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina.

New Orleans - Few people had heeded Governor Blanco’s August 26^th declaration of a state of emergency and evacuated the area, leaving many people and their animals to be rescued from the city. People were forced to leave their pets behind. Others refused to be rescued so as not to abandon their pets. Some people, like Mr. Casbon (whose story I will get to later), refused to be rescued until very late, when the flooding was so bad they had no choice. Many of these people were rescued with their pets, only to be separated from them when they reached safety.

At first and for too long, from Oregon, it seemed like just another hurricane. Maybe that’s because I don’t watch the news as regularly as I should. More likely, it is because we hear of tragedies in seemingly far-away places nearly every day. My office-mate at work was the only one who seemed to think it was anything significant. Christin had lived in Southern Texas many years ago and had seen the power of hurricanes first-hand. She was glued to the internet several days before and the entire week after the storm, watching the disaster unfold and giving me updates across the divider in our office.

It took me three days of her relaying the horrible tragedies to realize that this may be something a little bigger than the every day stories. We hear of harsh storms and tragic stories on a daily basis, but her stories kept getting worse. "Summer, did you hear that the levies broke and the whole city is flooded?" "Did you see the picture of people and their pets sitting on their roofs?" "Summer, did you see this picture of the people in the Superdome? This story says they have no food or water, no lights, people are raping and killing other people in the night!"

By Thursday, I was as stuck to the TV and internet as she was, pulled by the horrible stories of human tragedy. But what really struck a cord was the picture of the animals stranded inside and outside of their homes; dead and alive; floating on little pieces of wood, drifting with the tide; or swimming for help with nowhere to go. I think I’ll see some of those pictures in my mind for the rest of my life.

I continued to be stuck to the TV and internet following the aftermath of Katrina, until the point where I couldn’t watch anymore for fear of sinking into a deep depression. It was already affecting my work as it was constantly on my mind. I thought of joining the volunteers that I saw in the new stories and specifically thought of the Humane Society of the United States. I followed stories on their website and learned of the temporary shelters they were setting up to care for rescued pets.

A small part of me wanted to go help out, but I was conflicted. The stories were so terrible and my own visions of the pain and suffering of the animals was more than I could bear here, let alone if I was face to face with it. I kept telling myself to listen and watch the stories, that horrible pain and suffering happens every day and not just in a disaster situation. I re-lived, many times, my experience with the heeler mix on Hwy 97 (recounted in the Heeler Mix section).

On Friday, we learned that Troy, the Animal Welfare Director at the shelter, was specifically asked to assist HSUS in their relief efforts at the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales, LA. He was going to leave Sunday morning. This was a great honor for him and for the Organization. I was incredible impressed and started thinking about going down with him. I hesitated again, knowing that Troy has a lot of experience dealing with animal every day, including pets that have been mistreated and aggressive animals. But I kept thinking about it.

Saturday, the 10^th, was the HSCO Board of Directors strategic planning meeting. The intention of this meeting was to determine the goals and priorities of the current board, the direction we wanted to go as an Organization, and develop action plans on how to get there. Most of the Board was there, along with Troy, Lynne and Jan from the shelter, and Liz from the thrift store. It was an amazing day of planning and bonding for the group. I watched both Lynne and Troy specifically during the meeting, amazed at the level of their dedication to animals. Both seemed calm, but somewhat distracted for obvious reasons. They were both madly packing and preparing for Troy’s trip.

Adam was out of town that weekend, leaving me with too much time to think. By Saturday evening, I really wanted to go and began to prepare myself emotionally. I began to think about the things that would need to be coordinated to make it happen.

First, I would need to everything possible to brace myself emotionally. Second, I needed to talk to my husband to see if he thought I could handle it and to see if he could support me. I knew that he would support me in anything, but I wanted to honestly know what he thought about me going. He hesitated for only a moment, in complete shock at having the bomb dropped on him, but was then completely supportive. He encouraged me to do whatever I could.

Monday morning I woke up ready to get the process started. I visited the HSCO website and found an application to volunteer in the relief efforts. I waited to fill out the application until talking to Lynne, wondering if there was a different way to coordinate the trip now that Troy was already down there.

Before I called Lynne & Jan to tell them my intentions, I would need to get permission to take a leave of absence from work. I knew that this would be a stretch on the firm’s part with a big tax deadline coming up and being shorthanded for audit season. But, to be honest, by this time I was so committed to going, I don’t know that anything would have stood in my way. When I approached one of the partners on Monday morning, he was not thrilled. He said that he appreciated what I wanted to do and that he had thought about going down too, but we would need to see what I had on my plate to determine how much time they could afford to give me.

I worked up my calendar through the end of the year and met with both partners that afternoon. I told them I wanted to offer my help for two weeks. They were willing to let me go for no more than ten days, preferably spanning two weekends so that I would only miss one week of work. With that, I was good to go.

I called Lynne and told her that I wanted to help in the Gulf. I told her that I didn’t care where I went, when I went or what I did, I just wanted to help. We went over my qualifications and experience, which did not include much in the way of animal handling. We thought I might be able to help cleaning kennels and walking dogs, or maybe administratively with my accounting background. I didn’t care, I just wanted to help. And that was very true. However they could use me, if they could use me, I would do. I would worry about any emotion consequences when I go back.

Lynne immediately got on the phone and began typing emails to contacts at HSUS to figure out the best way to get me down there.

Tuesday was a day spent in limbo, waiting to here whether HSUS could use me and when they might want me. I was ready to leave as soon as I could get packed. By the afternoon, Lynne had learned that they needed me ASAP. We tentatively decided that I would fly out Thursday or Friday, but Lynne wisely advised me to wait until I had booked a flight and things were definitely before I started packing. The main thing was to start preparing emotionally for the trip. What she didn’t realize was that I had been doing that for two weeks already.

I filled out the online volunteer application at HSUS’s request and spoke to my sister that afternoon to let her know that I had volunteered. I was waiting to tell my parents until things were final, but wanted to get my sister prepared for it. She was overwhelmingly supportive and said that she would be doing the same thing if she weren’t pregnant. I completely believe her.

On Wednesday, I received word from Lynne that HSUS had approved me to book my travel. However, they decided that they would rather have me wait until the following week. That evening I requested a flight from the travel agency designated by HSUS to take care of their volunteers’ travel arrangements. Arrangements through that agency were automatically charged to HSUS as long as the person was approved by their organization.

Once I knew I was going, I called my parents that evening and told them about my trip. I could tell my Dad was really worried, because he overcompensated and didn’t say anything. He just told me that it should be an amazing experience and to have a good time and be safe. He’s the best. That’s his way of being supportive. I knew he would brace himself, then tell my Mom and maybe my grandparents who were with them on the river.

I was worried that Mom would freak out. She’s a worrier and she loves my sister and I more than anything in the world. I knew she would call me later that evening to talk to me in person, when she was ready, and she did. When she called she seemed so excited for me, telling me that it would be a great adventure and that I was lucky to be able to help. She and Dad were very proud of me and I thanked both of them for teaching me to help those who need it. I asked them to start spreading the word to the rest of my family.

In the mean time, I read and re-read Troy’s journal of his trip down there and started researching exactly what was happening the rescue efforts. At this point, he was working in the barns cleaning and walking dogs. It was inspiring. While the stories from Troy and the news were heart-wrenching, I knew I would be there soon to help. The next week wasn’t soon enough – I felt that next week might be too late as more and more animals were being found emaciated and dehydrated. My lack of patience is one of my worst faults and I was dealing with it head on.

My travel plans were finalized and I was to leave on Monday afternoon. I communicated this to my family and they began to spread the word. Besides Adam, my sister and my parents, the only family member I called was my Aunt Terri, my Mom’s sister. She was a second mother to us growing up and I know she loves my sister and I like her own daughters. She was overwhelmed with pride and I felt like the luckiest person on the planet for having such a supportive family. They are wonderful!

Lynne informed me that two other people wanted to volunteer down there and they may be able to go with me. By the end of the day, we knew that a lady named Denise Tate was going to go with me and had been approved by HSUS. Denise called me late that afternoon and we made some tentative plans. I emailed the travel agent who had set up my reservation and asked her to put Denise on the same itinerary with me. Between Denise and I, we were going to continue looking for a mini-van or larger SUV to rent, in case we need to sleep in it (I had been able to get an economy-sized car, then had found a very small SUV, neither of which would have slept both of us).

So the waiting began. I continued to fight anxiety and impatience until Sunday when I really started packing. Work was excruciating and I decided I would have to take Monday off, even though I wasn’t leaving until late afternoon. I followed Troy’s activities and continued to talk to Lynne about the situation down there and what they might have me do. It was all up in the air. But Lynne warned me every day and sometimes more than once a day that I should prepare myself for chaos. She almost pleaded with me to prepare myself to go down there with an open attitude – to help with anything they asked me to do and to not get too wrapped up in the chaos.

I pulled out the list of things to bring, along with a list that Lynne and Troy had put together for us, and began pulling things that I had out into the living room. I checked off the things that I had and began making shopping list. At about noon, I left for the valley for my 10-year high school reunion. I thought I was going to miss it when I was planning to leave on Friday. When the flight got pushed to Monday, I decided to go and I’m so thankful that I did. I ended up talking to many of my former classmates about it, but the quick trip was an appreciated distraction from thinking about the trip to the Gulf.

Adam and I went to breakfast at our favorite place, then spent several hours shopping for the remaining things on the list. We went to the HSCO thrift store where I bought a bunch of clothes for the trip. I found a couple pairs of pants, including some wonderful cargo pants, and several light weight t-shirts and tank tops. Then we went to Fred Meyer. Finally, the only thing left on the list was waterproof work boots. With nothing else available in Redmond, I made my first trip into the Redmond Wal-Mart (which I have been avoiding like the plague), where I found the perfect pair of boots for about $18. Sweet!

I threw all my goodies into the pile in the living room and started getting really excited. I slept really well that night, knowing that it would probably be my last good sleep for a while.

I continued to ready Troy’s journal, which now included a day of him going into the city on rescue operations. Powerful stuff! By that time, I knew that they would most likely not send me into the city as I have no disaster training or relatively little animal handling skills. But still, it started hitting home that I would be there in a couple days, most likely working with the animals he brought off the streets. Wow! How lucky am I!

Adam ended up having Monday off, yah! We were able to spend most of the day together, except for a few hours when I went in to Bend to the shelter and quick stop at work. I finished packing up my bags and was ready. I was dying of anxiety at that point, so Adam and went to a park near Cline Falls, went for a walk, talked for a while then played catch with a football for while. The exercise felt really good and it was a beautiful day.

Adam dropped me off at the airport at around 5pm, taking a picture as I was walking into the building. That night he sent the pictures to Lynne in case she wanted to post them to the website in the journal that we planned to continue.

I checked in and immediately went to the bar to catch the Monday night football game. It was the double-header Monday night, with New Orleans playing a home game at Giant Stadium, since their stadium was obviously out of the picture. Unfortunately, the small bar did not get Channel 2 so we missed it. I met a couple people in the bar who had seen my huge NAVY bag and asked if I was going back to base. I told them where I was headed and they asked many questions. When they left for their flight, they told me to have a safe trip.

Then someone else came into the tiny bar and laid her stuff down. She asked if my name was Summer and I finally met Denise. We had been speaking over the past couple days, coordinating what we were bringing and learning about each other. We had about ½ hour in the bar to continue getting to know each other. What a great lady!

The flight was a doozy. We left Redmond at about 6:30pm, arrived in Portland 45 minutes later where we had a 3 ½ hour layover. We had a long dinner and did a little shopping, then slept for an hour or so.

We left PDX at about Midnight for a 3 ½ hour flight, getting into Dallas/FW at about 5:30am Central. We had another 3 ½ hour layover in Dallaw/FW where we got some coffee and slept on the floor. The hour long flight into Baton Rouge arrived somewhere around 10am Central. From there, we found our rental van and a map and then headed to directly to the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center.

Denise was a great navigator and we drove right to it. The entire trip, I was fine emotionally, mainly just tired and annoyed by the long layovers. But once we took the Gonzales exit to the Expo Center, I started getting really excited and pretty nervous, almost to the point of nausea but not quite. We pulled up to the security gate in our silver mini-van, told them we were animal volunteers with HSUS. They welcomed us and pointed us to the left for the animal facilities.

Lamar-Dixon is a huge facility and the temporary animal shelter was set up in the Equestrian Center at the west side of the property. I identified the size of the facility as being the size of the Oregon State Fairgrounds in Salem, minus the convention halls. The gates are at the bottom left of the picture below. To the right is a large gravel/grass parking area where the air-conditioned FEMA tent and personal tents were set up by volunteers.

In the middle of the picture are two round paved lots that were used by the National Guard as helicopter pads. The indoor arenas are in the long building in the middle. There are stalls and a walkway down the middle. It was also used by the National Guard and was off limits to anyone not with the National Guard, except for the tornado warning (I’ll get to that later).

Behind the indoor arena building, you can see the six barns with an outdoor arena in the middle. These six barns and the are behind them were the bulk of the temporary animal shelter. Barn 6 is toward the top of the picture, with Barns 5-1 going to the right. There are two more barns above Barn 6 that were not used by us.

It was about 11am. Once driving through the gates, Denise and I were instructed to go left and around to the back. We parked at the side of the indoor arena building, then walked around the back following the sounds of barking dogs. There was a gate set up reaching from the end of the indoor arena building to the area in between Barn 5 and Barn 6. Both of us looked at each other and took a deep breath. We shook hands and said "let’s do it".

We walked through the gates and there were people and dogs everywhere! Smartly, organizers had set up tables and booths immediately inside the gates, a couple for volunteer check-in and a large one for owners looking for pets. We walked over to the volunteer check-in tables and patiently waited our turn.

While we waited, we calmly looked around and tried to adjust to the environment. There were so many things going on, it was hard to take it all in. I remember looking around and not really seeing anything because there was so much. The barns and the facility in general were much larger than I had envisioned. There were people, with and without dogs, walking in every direction – walking quietly, with a purpose. There were dogs barking from what seemed a mile away in the other barns. I remember thinking, "I can’t believe that all of these gigantic barns are full of animals." Holy crap!! Where do you want me, what can I do, I’m ready.

There were several different smells fighting for your attention – sweat, dogs, horses, sticky air and the trees and shrubs that surround the area. The heat and humidity were a shock to the system as we had to actually think about breathing. After about 5 minutes in the sun, just standing there, we were soaking wet. And the stickiness is completely indescribable. I won’t even try.

When the coordinator at the table was ready for us, we told her we were there to volunteer. It didn’t matter where we were from, how long we could stay or what organization we were affiliated with, she was just excited that we were there. The first thing she did was look over the edge of the table to see what kind of shoes we were wearing. I laughed a little, remembering Troy’s story of the ladies in high heels. She seemed very relieve to see our closed-toed boots.

She had us sign a liability waiver and then to complete a form with our names, contact information and areas of experience. She also asked us to write the date we intended to leave on the top of the sheet. I indicated that I had some animal handling experience, but would be strongest in administration or cleaning kennels. I also indicated that I would help anywhere they might need me. Denise did the same, but highlighted her experience in one or two vet clinics.

When the coordinator turned back to us, she quickly sized us up and read our forms. She visibly took a deep breath in then said they were in need of help with a particular project. It meant not working directly with the animals but would really help them out. Both Denise and I told her that we would help anywhere they needed us. The coordinator released her breath and smile. She had obviously been nervous to ask. She told us to grab some water, do whatever we needed to get ourselves set since we were staying for a week, then find Sandy or Kim at the ASPCA table or trailer behind Barn 2. They had an administrative project that they really needed help with. She gave us some paperwork to read – a safety flyer and some other things – thanked us very earnestly for being there and wished us luck.

Denise and I headed back to the van really pumped up. I think Denise might have been a little bummed about the admin work, but was excited to be there. We hopped back in the van to try to find the tent that Troy had left up for us. We circled back around to the front of the facility, taking the long way to scope out the area. We took the road around the back of the barns, finally realizing that the barns were HUGE. We drove by the dog-walking area, waiting for volunteers with dogs to cross to road in front of us. We passed several RVs parked behind the barns, the food tent and a large open tent. Back around the side of the indoor arena building and Barn 1 were more RVs and a small brick bathroom building. We finally made it out to the front gravel/grass parking area where we had seen some tents pitched when we first drove in.

Lynne gave us the following clues for finding the tent – 1) Troy had left a big garbage can in front of the tent with HSCO written on it. 2) He had left a towel over the top of the tent with HSCO written on it. 3) The tent was yellow-ish with a yellow striped rain fly. 4) The tent has Pine Mountain Sports written on it. We thought we were in for a big treasure hunt in a tent sea. However, once we reached the edge of the gravel/grass, we scanned the scene and spotted a yellow-ish tent with a big garbage can next to it way over on the side. We drove up to it and saw HSCO written on. So much for the treasure hunt, we drove right to it! Nice job, Troy!

We examined the contents of the tent – Troy’s sleeping bag, mattress and backpack. There was also a camera and a pad of paper with a note on it. I grabbed the note and started reading it. He had lots of well wishes and advice, including a mini-map of the facilities and instructions on how to volunteer to do rescues in the city if we wanted to. After seeing this massive temporary shelter, I knew I would be more than challenged here. Denise felt the same, but considered going out later in the week if she felt up to it.

Denise changed, we slabbed on a ton of sunscreen, chugged some water and started the ¼ mile trek to the barns. I wore a tank top, super thin light-weight cargo pants and my Wal-Mart boots. From my luggage, I had dug out the Ruff Wear leashes to take over to the barns. I grabbed one for me, threw one to Denise, threw a couple in the tent just in case and took the rest of the bag with me. We later put them in a huge container of community leashes at the front of the barns.

When we got over there, we walked through Barn 2 to the back. It was our first look at how the barns are set up. In Barn 2, there six rows of 30-30 horse stalls in this configuration:

______________ ______________ Row A

______________ ______________ Row B

______________ ______________ Row C

______________ ______________ Row D

______________ ______________ Row E

______________ ______________ Row F

The row indicate rows of stalls, with rows A and F were facing out and walkways between B-C and D-E. There was also a cross-cutting walkway down the middle. Peering over the front of the stalls, we saw 2-4 wire crates with a dog in each crate. There was paperwork usually lying on top of the crate and a little face staring up at us. Denise and I looked at each other with an "Oh, my gosh. These poor, sweet things!" I said, "This is why we’re here, isn’t it?" Denise agreed.

Inside I took a huge sigh of relief. I had been expecting the dogs to be in horrible condition. This being my worst fear, I was SO relieved to see that they were in pretty good shape. Not too skinny (except for a couple I would meet later), not too withdrawn. Most of them were standing up with their tails wagging, asking us with their eyes if we were there to take them for a walk.

It was pretty noisy with many dogs barking, but again, not as many as I was expecting. We saw several teams of people working in various stalls throughout the barn and many dogs being walked out of or into the barn with a volunteer. We said hello to several of the volunteers as we walked by, but they were very intent on their work. There was so much to do and so little time in a day. We stopped to visit with a few dogs that were being walked. Some were very shy and some were all over the place with wagging tails and doggy kisses. My heart almost burst!

We continued on to the back of the barn and found a table with ladies sitting around visiting. It was a surprise to see people sitting around seeming to do nothing because everyone else we saw was busting it. We stood there for several minutes while they visited, waiting for them to acknowledge our presence and trying to remain patient. Finally, I looked at Denise. I couldn’t take it anymore (I told you about the patience, thing, right?) I walked up and told them we were looking for Sandy or Kim. They said they didn’t know either of them and that we should look elsewhere. We asked if this was the ASPCA tent and they confirmed that it was. They asked us what we wanted, pretty rudely; we told them we had been sent specifically to Sandy or Kim to help them with an admin project. The rude ladies told us again that they did not know Sandy or Kim and that we should go find something else to do.

Yikes! Who the hell are these ladies and what are they doing here! Out of my entire trip, these were the only truly rude people I met and I wondered why they were there if not to help out. Didn’t really seem like a great place to go camping or hang out with friends. Denise and I were a little blown away, but decided to try again later. We were pretty excited to the break, actually, because it would give us a chance to help out in one of the barns. We wandered back into Barn 2 and found a couple teams working together. We asked how we could help.

They asked us to grab a couple dogs and take them for a walk while they cleaned out the kennels. AWESOME! I asked which one they wanted me to take and they pointed to a Chow/Shepard mix
(I took his picture the next morning. He’s in the middle).

I grabbed him and we went for a walk. What a sweetie pie! Just another dog I realized, just like all of them here, but for the first time I looked into his eyes and wondered, "Sweet baby, what have you been through?" "Don’t worry," I told him. "We’re going to take care of you and do our best to find your family. If we can’t find them, we’ll find you a wonderful new home where someone will love you." I told the same thing to every animal I met down there; dog, cat, bunny, bird or pig.

That was part of it. You know you can’t personally help every animal there, but you know that you are part of a huge team that will care for this one animal from rescue to reunion or adoption. Every single one was special to everyone there. What an amazing feeling to be a part of that!

We continued on for an hour of so, until the teams were done with a full round of feeding/cleaning and went to take a b